Hop, Hop Hooray

Photo by Allan Willoughby

Windsor micro-pub wins the SWM CAMRA ‘Pub of the Year’

The Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead CAMRA branch can proudly announce that the Windsor micro-pub, ‘A Hoppy Place,’ has been voted the ‘SWM CAMRA Pub of the Year 2021.’ A mere 8 days after receiving this honour, the family-owned bottle shop and taproom also won the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) ‘UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Retailer-Single’ award. After this incredible haul of awards, CAMRAngle contacted the victorious micro-pub. “We feel incredibly privileged and grateful that our friends, customers, and the wider beer industry have recognised the work we’ve put in,” thanked co-owner Dave Hayward. “We are still in deep shock! We owe it all to everyone who’s ever placed an online order, joined an online event, popped into the shop for a take-away, and had a drink in our little Windsor micro-pub before the world went strange. We owe it all to all of you. The community we have built up really is that – a community. Most of our closest friends we know through beer. The number of people we’ve met in the last 18 months that I now consider friends is staggering and is what I am most proud of when I look back on our decision to start this business.”

‘The Pub of the Year’ title is voted by the members of the local CAMRA branch, of which there are nearly 700 representatives. Just a 3% difference in votes separated 1st and 2nd place - the community owned ‘Craufurd Arms.’ Chair of the Craufurd Arms Society Mark Newcombe stated, “we congratulate ‘A Hoppy Place,’ for their award and wish them all the best for the future. We thank everyone who voted for us and and look forward to re-establishing ourselves as the ‘go to place’ for a fantastic selection of real ales and craft beers served with a smile.” The ‘Hoppy Place’ team built a sustainable business and brilliant beer shop, despite launching just as the Coronavirus crisis struck. “The past 12 months has been far from easy for us,” admits Dave, “that’s the case for everyone but I take great pride in the recognition of our reaction to fight not flee.” The announcement of the initial lockdown threw the nation into uncertainty. “By then we knew we could open but breweries could not and were in turmoil,” recalls Dave. “I collected boxes from 6 local

Photo by Allan Willoughby

Naomi, Jason and Dave are the team behind the micro-pub

breweries and spun up our web store, advertising on radio, social media, to our SWM members, and anywhere else I could – that we were open and we were delivering. I now think of 2020 as ‘The Year of The Beer Box,’ and thank CAMRA for kick-starting that! We were encouraged by the SWM CAMRA branch to hold an online event and as a result, we were able to reintroduce 30 faces who’d not seen each other since the previous December for a virtual beer tasting on Zoom. The success of this event, and subsequent ones gave us the drive to press on.” ‘A Hoppy Place’ has hosted numerous online events during lockdown including the ‘Double-Barrelled Brewery Birthday Bash.’

Despite the success of late, ‘A Hoppy Place’ came very close to ceasing operations a year ago, due to tragic circumstances. Co-owner Naomi Hayward’s father, suffering from cancer, was admitted to hospital with Covid in March 2020. The virus took his life 5 days later. “This led us to debate giving up the business or fight on,” discloses Dave. “Naomi and our General Manager Jason took leave whilst I used compassionate leave and holiday respectively. With plenty of help from my closest friends, I ran the shop solo. This is our livelihood and we couldn’t throw in the towel. Keeping and managing to grow the business through all of this is something I’m incredibly proud of.”

“We owe it all to everyone who’s ever placed an online order, joined an online event, popped into the shop for a take-away, and had a drink in our little Windsor micropub before the world went strange. We owe it all to all of you.”

Dave Hayward

So, what does the future hold for this award-winning micro-pub? “We think we have something here that really works,” contemplates Dave. “We’ve supported breweries, communities, argued for legislative reform, judged at beer events, and grown our business. Watch this space, as we want to grow! Could there be a second Hoppy Place? I’d love there to be. We seem to have built a community that both CAMRA stalwarts and craft aficionados consider home, and we reckon others could feel the same! We’ll never lose sight of our roots, and that’s every single customer and friend that has supported us this year. So, we’ll see you soon for a pint!”

For the full award listing, see the SWM CAMRA website for more details. Congratulations once again to ‘A Hoppy Place.’

Full SWM CAMRA Award List

Pub of the Year

1st Place - A Hoppy Place, Windsor

2nd Place - The Craufurd Arms, Maidenhead

Cider Pub of the Year

1st Place - The Barleycorn, Cippenham

2nd Place - The Windsor Trooper, Windsor

The Barleycorn in Cippenham is a cosy traditional pub, accredited for serving consistently well-kept real ales. There is always a real cider and a choice of fruit ciders available alongside seven ales.

Club of the Year

1st Place - Maidenhead Conservative Club, Maidenhead

2nd Place - Maidenhead & Bray Sports Club, Bray

The Maidenhead Conservative Club has now won this award 5 consecutive times- a staggering achievement! The Maidenhead & Bray Sport Club is a new entry for this category.

More info

www.ahoppyplace.co.uk 11 St Leonards Road,

Windsor, SL4 3BN